News, Insights and Best Practices for Manufacturing in Mexico

The state of the aerospace industry in Sonora

Sonora's state government expects 12,000 jobs in the aerospace industry by 2015. There have been investments of about $750 million and at least 10 new aerospace companies will arrive over the next two years. According to Moisés Gómez Reyna, Secretary of the Economy, the aerospace industry provides many jobs to Sonorans both directly and indirectly already, but the growth continues. Sonora has implemented an aggressive investment attraction policy that has drawn in 62 plants. Many companies from other countries, such as the U.S., see the attraction of manufacturing in Mexico with the help of Sonoran initiatives to interest them.

Jobs created by the aerospace industry in Mexico are likely to be specialized and high paying by regional standards. Manufacturing workers with the relevant skills are drawn to the state of Sonora for the opportunities that exist there. From high school to technological university, including many professional development programs that take workers and students out of the country for training, Sonora provides high-level education for manufacturing employees in the aerospace sector.

Sonora is unique in that it can boast a specialized cluster of factories that can complete a product entirely from door to door within the cluster. This means there are many jobs of a similar type close together, and it also benefits the companies that manufacture there. Supply chains can be as short as from one end of an industrial park to the other. It's estimated that the aerospace industry in Mexico will be able to build a complete aircraft in-country by 2020, a prediction largely fueled by Sonora's success.

Sonora's high concentration of aerospace manufacturers and its proximity to the U.S. offer companies a great opportunity to reduce manufacturing costs by opening factories there. The incentives the state offers also create an excellent business environment.